About

Leadership

Meet our Team

Gary Jacob, PhD

Chief Executive Officer/Director

Dr. Jacob has over 35 years of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries across multiple disciplines, including research and development, operations, business development, capital financing activities and senior management expertise. He has developed broad and influential contacts throughout the biopharmaceutical, financial, banking and investor communities.

Dr. Jacob is the Co-Founder and former CEO and Chairman of Synergy Pharmaceuticals. During his time at Synergy, he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, and is the co-inventor of Synergy’s FDA-approved drug Trulance® which is currently marketed in the U.S. by Bausch Health, Inc. to treat functional GI disorders. Dr. Jacob is also the former CEO and Managing Director of Immuron Inc., an Australian biotechnology company dual-listed on the Australian ASX exchange and on NASDAQ. Dr. Jacob currently is Chairman of the Board of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a public NASDAQ listed company with a drug in clinical development to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and is also on the Board of Directors of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., a NASDAQ listed public oncology company. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from May 2003 until January 2013.

Prior to his involvement with Callisto and Synergy, Dr. Jacob was at Monsanto/G.D. Searle, where he was Director of Glycobiology and a Monsanto Science Fellow, specializing in the field of Glycobiology and drug discovery. Dr. Jacob holds over 30 patents and is the co-inventor of two pharmaceutical drugs which are FDA approved. Dr. Jacob earned a B.S. cum laude in Chemistry from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

William Clementi, PhD

Chief Operating officer

Dr. Clementi has followed a science-driven career path since completing his NIH Training Fellowship (under John L. McNay M.D. and Thomas M. Ludden Ph.D.) Upon completing his Fellowship research in drug metabolism and vascular smooth muscle relaxation, Dr. Clementi joined the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (UTGBS) faculty and the College of Pharmacy faculty in Austin, Tx, in the Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. His primary responsibilities were interdisciplinary, and he led innovative programs in the Colleges with teaching, research, and clinical commitments. Dr. Clementi directed the Clinical Pharmacokinetic Consultation Service, providing novel computer-based drug dosing to the acute care settings at two major teaching hospitals.

Dr. Clementi continued his career in the pharmaceutical industry, joining Synthelabo and the U.S. affiliate Lorex Pharmaceuticals, where he held the Worldwide Director of Market Development position. Lorex and Synthelabo launched three EMA and FDA-approved products (betaxolol, zolpidem, and alfuzosin).

In 1991 Dr. Clementi established a regulatory consulting company, Clementi & Associates, Ltd. (dba as Clementi Ltd). Clementi Ltd. provides regulatory and clinical consultation to small companies developing drugs, biologics, cell-based therapies, organ sustainability products and contrast media for medical imaging. Clementi Ltd. has experience with required regulatory submission standards and processes, including orphan designation, exploratory INDs, expanded access INDs, and combination drug-drug and device-drug products. Clementi Ltd also provides high-level cGMP and GCP oversight.

Raj Patil, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Patil brings 30 years of ophthalmic experience and a powerful combination of academic scholarship and pharmaceutical R&D excellence.

Raj previously worked with Ora Inc, as Vice President of Research & Development, where he was responsible for driving all anterior and posterior segment research of Ora’s R&D Institute. Earlier in his career, he worked at iVeena Delivery Systems as Vice President of Advanced Ocular Delivery Systems. His tenure at iVeena included a two-year sabbatical in Singapore, where he served as an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at DUKE/NUS Medical School and Principal Investigator at Singapore Eye Research Institute.

Raj also held a number of leadership roles at Alcon/Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research, including Associate Director of Research and Head of Molecular Pharmacology glaucoma and retina research. Prior to joining the business world, Dr. Patil served as an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Cell Biology & Genetics at University of Nebraska Medical Centre in Omaha and as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Molecular Biology & Pharmacology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Raj received his PhD in Biochemistry from National Chemical Laboratory/University of Pune, India and completed his postdoctoral training in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He is the recipient of Olga Keith Wiess Special Scholar Award from Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation and NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. Dr. Patil has authored over 50 peer-reviewed research articles and serves as reviewer and editorial board member for numerous journals and is frequently invited to lecture at academic and industry events.

Keeren Shah

Chief Financial Officer

Keeren Shah serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Shah currently also serves as the Finance Director of Tiziana Life Sciences LTD, Accustem Sciences Limited and Rasna Therapeutics Inc., having previously served as the Group Financial Controller for all businesses from June 2016 to July 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Shah spent 10 years at Visa, Inc. as a Senior Leader in its finance team where she was responsible for key financial controller activities, financial planning and analysis, and core processes as well as leading and participating in key transformation programmes and Visa Inc.’s initial public offering. Before joining Visa, Ms. Shah also held a variety of finance positions at other leading companies including Arthur Andersen and BBC Worldwide. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours in Economics and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.